He had taken a seat very near to her, and when he extended his hand she laid hers in it, without moving from her place. He held it close, for an instant, and then, stooping, laid his lips upon it.
Margaret suffered the caress in silence. She felt nerveless and irresponsible, but her whole nature responded to these signs of tenderness from him. She knew his heart was seeking hers, which was ready to answer, at a touch. She felt confused and tremulous, but very happy and contented and safe, and when she presently withdrew her hand from Louis’, she gave him, in its stead, a look of the deepest confidence and kindness.
“There is something I want to tell you, Margaret——” he began, and while she was almost holding her breath to listen, the sound of General Gaston’s key was heard in the lock, and, with a quick motion, they moved apart.
As Louis stood up and turned to meet his brother, Margaret sank back in her seat with a quick sigh. The interruption was almost a relief. The sharp strain of this new-born hope and doubt and wonder was a pain to her, and she was glad to wait. The joy that had been thus held out to her was still to be secured, and she felt a happy safety in the bright future before her.
As for Louis, his pulses thrilled with triumphant hope. All his doubts and misgivings melted like snow beneath the sweet, confiding looks and tones that Margaret had vouchsafed to him this evening. He forgot Charley Somers and all his old mistrust concerning him, and felt happy in the present and almost secure of the future. His ardent blood was stirred as it had never been before. If Mrs. Gaston could have looked into his heart to-night, she could never again have called him cold and unemotional!
CHAPTER XX.
AMES & Gaston had been awarded the designs for some important buildings, to be erected at a distance of a few miles from Washington, and it was in connection with this matter that Louis Gaston, the morning after the interview with Miss Trevennon, just recorded, stepped into a street-car which was to take him within a short distance of the site of these buildings.
As he glanced around on entering, he met the smiling and enticing gaze of Mrs. Vere. There was a vacant seat beside her, but he did not choose to take it. His mind, since last night’s episode, had been full of memories and anticipations with which the very thought of Mrs. Vere was discordant. So he merely raised his hat, in answer to her greeting, and seated himself at some distance from her, near the door, turning his face to the window. But, as the car went on toward the suburbs, the passengers gradually departed, and he presently became aware of the fact that only Mrs. Vere and himself remained. Even then his aversion to an interview with her, in his present mood, was so strong that he kept his place, choosing to ignore the fact of their being left alone together. In a very few minutes, however, Mrs. Vere crossed to his side, saying, with an airy little laugh: